AY LELUM
AY LELUM
AUNALEE & SOPHIA
Aunalee Boyd-Good and Sophia Seward-Good are sisters who have taken the teachings of being raised in an art studio, having run and worked in their parents gallery and wholesale business, and being active in events and fashion shows to launch their clothing line, Ay Lelum The Good House of Design. Having been mentored by their mother, artist and designer, Sandra Moorhouse-Good, they carry on the legacy that their parents built through their own garment design.
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Having worked in all aspects of a family Design House and Art studio, together they design and create a Traditional Coast Salish clothing line as their parents had. They feature and work with their brother Joel Good and their Dad, William Good to incorporate traditional family designs into their line of wearable art. They are active in the community, always willing to promote Coast Salish culture through their own artistic canvas, Ay Lelum garments. They are passionate about documenting and passing on the traditions and art form taught by their Father, William Good, as well as using eco-friendly fabrics and manufacturing locally. You will often find the sisters set up at various shows or Pop-up-Shops that they announce on their Website and Facebook page, with a child or two "in training", as they had been.
With their showcases in Vancouver Fashion Week since FW2018, the sisters have been dedicated to embracing and sharing traditional Coast Salish art, culture, language and music. While creating ready-wear collections and couture garments, they also hit the recording studio! Having been taught traditional singing and drumming by their Dad, they recorded their own showcase music where they sang, drummed, rattled, and shared Hul'qumi'num language. As well as recording with their Dad, brother and baby Phil, they also had the sounds of their brother Joel carving incorporated into the music. Their Ay Lelum music was all recorded and re-mixed in Nanaimo by Rob the Viking.
The duo also joins their Aunts and cousins in the family Drum Circle, Footprints of the Wolf, performing in the community.
DR. WILLIAM GOOD
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Dr. William Good is a Hereditary Chief from the Snuneymuxw First Nation, in Nanaimo, B.C.. He is the Master Carver, Storyteller and Cultural Historian responsible for revitalizing the traditional Coast Salish Snuneymuxw art form. He has spent decades researching this almost extinct visual language of the Coast Salish people, and has spent years producing art and teaching it to students, as well as sharing it with the community. On June 23, 22 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by Vancouver Island University for his dedication to the revitalization of the Traditional Snuneymuxw Coast Salish style, what he refers to as a visual written language. Over the decades, he has worked in many media, including hand-pulled limited edition silk screens, painting, gold and silver jewellery, art restoration, garment manufacturing and carving-plaques, panels, steam bent boxes and totem poles. In his retirement years, he continues to carve master works with his son W. Joel Good and he collaborates with his family to create garment designs for Ay Lelum The Good House of Design.
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Having worked and produced art in his community since the late 1970's, Dr. William Good has a vast body of work. A few features are that he has carved the "Welcome" Poles for the City of Nanaimo at Duke Point, has contributed knowledge and carvings for the permanent Snuneymuxw Exhibit at the Nanaimo Museum, and has carved the story of Sque-em for the City of Nanaimo Public art exhibit. Having had an open Art Studio, an Art Gallery called Art of the Siem in the 1990's and wholesaling to Galleries, his works have been shown and sold all over the globe. With a publication in the Royal BC Museum Curious Magazine called "Restoring balance: Reuniting Coast Salish Art and Oral History" written by his daughter Aunalee Boyd-Good, you can see how the impact of his years of research, Mastering the traditional Coast Salish art style and how his contributions have had an immense impact on his community and his family.
Dr. William Good was awarded the prestigious City of Nanaimo Culture and Heritage Award, "Honor in Culture" for 2018. This is awarded to an individual who has contributed to the cultural fabric of the City of Nanaimo. With his decades of research and revitalization of the Traditional Coast Salish style of the Snuneymuxw area, receiving this award is a great honor.
JOEL GOOD
Joel Good is a traditional Coast Salish Artist, from the Snuneymuxw First Nation. He has been carving in the Coast Salish style to engage his passion for this rare, traditional art form that is now gaining in popularity. He works in the original Coast Salish style, one that has been revitalized by his Father and Mentor, Master Carver and Historian, Dr. William Good. All of Joel’s designs are derived from the traditional legends taught to him and through extensive research into the original archived style. Another significant source of inspiration is his Mother, Artist and Painter, Sandra Moorhouse-Good, who herself had been trained as a classical painter by her Grandfather, Herbert Moorhouse.
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As a child, Joel grew up in an Art Studio where his parents produced and sold art work, and provided for their large combined family. They had stations for many art forms, including painting, printmaking, pottery, and carving. Among many other media, Joel practiced sketching where he learned the importance of accurate design. As a teenager, his parents ran a successful wholesale and retail art business where they produced a line of Coast Salish clothing and jewellery under the name of “Ay Ay Mut“. Although his teachings were broadened to have a greater understanding of art in multi-media, he made the decision upon embarking onto his art quest to practice the traditional Coast Salish style.
Joel carves in red and yellow cedar, and mixes his paints in the traditional Coast Salish colors (black, white, red, yellow and teal). He bends his own steam-bent boxes in the customary style of his tribe. Joel’s art work is the perfect combination of his traditional Coast Salish roots and his family’s classical painting origin. He uses all of his influences to have his own unique traditional style, which blends the teachings of both of his parents. He combines accuracy, passion, and inspiration to create every masterpiece.
Throughout his career, Joel has had works commissioned by The City of Nanaimo, including a Spindle Whorl and Dancing Eagle panel, BC Hydro, The Canadian Museum for Human Rights, The Nanaimo Aboriginal Centre, Leadership Vancouver Island, Snuneymuxw First Nation, as well as numerous other organizations. In June, 2018, Joel had two Coast Salish House Post Totem Poles erected in Departure Bay, Nanaimo, B.C,, carved with his Father William. He also creates works of art for private collectors as well as provides artwork for his sisters for Ay Lelum-The Good House of Design.
SANDRA MOORHOUSE-GOOD
Sandra has spent her lifetime in Arts. She was educated traditionally in oil paintings in the late 1940s and early 1950s by her grandfather Herbert Moorhouse a professor of art. After graduating high school in 1962 she travelled to Toronto and on scholarship attended The Ontario College of Art. Her first oil painting exhibit was in 1953 and she is still exhibiting today. Her life of art includes: painting, pottery, hand painted clothing, clothing design, silk screening, sewing and production of her own designed clothing- which she embellished with designs of William Good's Coast Salish art. From her studio she taught many different classes and art forms to diverse and different age groups. Sandra has done art counseling, judged art for Malaspina College in Nanaimo, and collaborated with many different artists.
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In June and July of 2015, she had an exhibit of her art collaboration of 35 years with William Good showed at the Nanaimo Museum. The exhibit showcased an Anniversary Collection of AyAyMut Clothing, which was extremely well received. The clothing line AyAyMut- beautiful in the Hul'q'umi'num language- was a great success and the clothing line travelled the world with fashion shows from Victoria and Toronto to Arizona and New Mexico in the 1990s. Together with William they opened two retail stores in Nanaimo, focusing on the waterfront store "Art of the Siem". They also gave workshops for NITA in Vancouver for aboriginal artists to develop entrepreneurial skills and artistic confidence as well as ways to overcome obstacles facing artists in society. Their daughters Aunalee and Sophia and son Joel, attended trade shows in Vancouver, Victoria and Toronto.
Sandra continues her own style of painting, clothing design and art forms today as well encourage, mentor and promote young artists today. Sandra currently mentors her daughters by assisting in garment design, patterning and production for Ay Lelum-The Good House of Design. She also facilitated and taught painting workshops for the Snuneymuxw First Nation as well as a jointly facilitated workshop for the Museum of Vancouver in 2020.
ARTISTS
Meet the family behind the art and design that is, Ay Lelum.
